I L-O-V-E Hokusai. I regretted waiting until the very last day of the exhibition to go see the current exhibition at the Museum of Kyoto. It was a strange thing as I neared the museum, parking my bicycle on Sanjo Street, a few blocks from the museum. It was a cold day, with intermittent snow and rain – and fire engines and fire fighters everywhere.
The Japanese firefighters were taking their usual heavy-handed approach – tersely ordering people around. As I made my way through the onlookers and firefighters, I was quite surprised to see the focus of everyones attention was on the Museum of Kyoto itself.
I am not sure what happened but the museum staff said they were closed for the rest of the day and though the plethora of firefighters milling around might lead one to think otherwise, it really didn’t see like there was a fire at the museum. OK, maybe a spark or something, but nothing serious. But, that wouldn’t prevent the firefighters from seizing control of the day.
When you visit Kyoto, and you see the near total absence of traditional architecture in most neighborhoods, you can thank the firefighters for that. They declared traditional Kyoto architecture and streetscapes to be illegal several decades ago. That is how these guys roll!
Well, fire or not, no Hokusai exhibition for me!
Museum of Kyoto Hokusai Exhibition (京都文化博物館 北斎展)
